Social media use by multiple stakeholders and rightsholders during the Fort McMurray wildfires

Abstract

One of the reasons why adaptation and innovation occur in disaster response contexts is because of broader societal changes. Channels of communications between stakeholders and rightsholders in disaster response contexts have changed with societal adoption and ubiquitous use of social media. Social media has shown potential in enhancing disaster communication and collaboration between various stakeholders during disaster response. One of the affordances of social media is that it supports multidirectional information flows, and this inherently adds to the complexity of the operational context. This chapter highlights social media use during the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire, in the province of Alberta, Canada. The case study offers examples of how officials, affected populations, and volunteers used social media during their response to the wildfire and discusses the benefits of these practices for the response effort.